His Other Half
His Other Half
By Duskhoof, edited by EverFreePony.
Written as part of the ‘Cuddlefic Contest’ arranged by CategoricalGrant
Things…
Things were very strange indeed.
It was like a very odd dream...
There was Twilight’s voice, calling out in concern…
The grinding sound of something heavy moving up and out of the way…
Fresh bright light, masked by closed eyelids…
Urgent ponies, controlled but acting in an awful hurry…
“...Spike? Spike, can you hear me? Spike, it’s…”
Spike, the young dragon, opened his eyes. It took considerable effort, as though they’d been closed for an eon, but eventually, he had them parted far enough to be able to see through blurred lenses. What he saw was not where he last remembered being.
He was no longer in the library of the Friendship Castle, but in a green room with beeping machines. He was not stood on a ladder at a bookshelf, rather resting in a stiff bed shielded with minty curtain screens. He was not pulling out a particularly difficult book, he was hooked up to an IVF on one arm, his other coated and set in plaster while bandages on his head threatened to droop over his eyes.
Hospital, he thought muddily to himself, this is the hospital. He’d ended up in a ward with no memory of leaving his home, but how was this so? He looked for clues yet couldn’t move his head. A brief panic came over him until he directed his eyes to the left then the right. His whole skull had been boxed in with a forgiving but firm head brace.
“Am I being detained!?” he yelped, butting his head back and forth on the brace. He looked for someone to help him, his eyes going as far left as he could. A gleeful, slightly drunken noise fell out of him as he finally saw somepony he recognized.
Beside him lay the form of Twilight Sparkle, his boss, best friend and family member slumped half on and half off of his mattress. She was sound asleep but from that frazzled mane and the bags he could spy under her eyes, it had been a long time until now that she'd slept properly. He didn’t know whether to wake her or let her snooze some more but his body seemed to have other ideas. His wrapped up arm reached out of its own volition and tapped her gently on the snout.
“Wakey wakey, sleeping snoozy,” came a voice from his lips. He realized that was his voice, but he felt so numb and it sounded so odd in pitch that he didn’t immediately recognize it. In any case, the action worked and the Princess stirred, lifting her head drowsily with a tired blink. She was however relieved in the next blink as she saw that her injured friend was the one to stir her.
“Spike, how are you feeling?” she asked, rubbing her eye. Had she been crying? He wanted to comfort her and tell her he was doing just fine.
“Why do you have three heads?” he asked mournfully instead. What? The conscious cricket in the back of his mind asked, bewildered that he’d let such a silly response fall out of his mouth. He tried again. “You have three heads and four eyes, stop it, it’s scaring me,” he whimpered this time. That wasn’t what he wanted to say at all and now he had said it, he couldn’t stop seeing it too, what was going on?
Twilight, to her three-headed, four-eyed and ten-hooved credit, just giggled at this. She seemed to be understanding why he was seeing and saying such strange things and she was letting it go as normally as if he’d said he’d like a bowl of gemstone lasagna. Her foreleg reached out and her hoof brushed back his lane of green scales along his chest carefully, since his head was bandaged and petting a spinal injury was ill-advised.
“That’ll be the medicine they gave you, Spike, try to relax and not worry about it.” Medicine, he thought and attempted to pose the right question to her.
“This is what happens when you touch drugs, Sparky,” his outer self said instead and sighed deeply, “you smoke poison joke herb one time and you go all craaaaay-zeeeeee~” Great, his inner self grumbled as Twilight snorted and did her best not to guffaw at the shambolic attempt to resurrect a proper conversation. Considering what was going on with him, he lay down a map of events in his mind. Something must have happened in the library that got him hurt, and they needed to perform surgery on him to make him better. Had he damaged his poor handsome face? Had he done any permanent harm to himself? He had to know.
“Everypony thinks they know who you fancy, you know,” his mouth told her confidently as he tried harder to pose the right question. “If it’s true, I’m going to find out…”
“E-Err, S-Spike, k-keep your voice down now, okay?”
“Nope, I don’t think you know who you fancy, but I think I know, and if it’s true then I’m gonna tell you--”
“Spike, shh, come on, rest a little and--”
“BIG... if true,” he winked, “MAC!” He broke into a fit of giggles while his inner conscience slapped its forehead and paced back and forth. Observing Twilight turn a deep shade of aubergine, he apologized inside his mind. He just couldn’t seem to control the rest of his body, especially his disobedient mouth.
“I-I’m sorrry~” wept outer Spike to his surprise. Wait, he thought, did I actually manage to make myself say something I wanted to say? He tried again. “Drugs made ME do a stupid!” Huh, that wasn’t entirely what he wanted to say but it was close. He wondered what was different in this attempt based on the others and saw only that there was more emotion in this response. Feeling bad about making Twilight look silly had brought out some of his conscious brains to his unconscious mouth.
“I-It’s okay, Spike,” replied the still embarrassed purple belle, “so long as you know that isn’t entirely true, and if Applejack’s around, completely untrue. We do not want a repeat of the ‘Big War,’ too many mares lost their dignities fighting Jackie for a piece of the Mac that day…”
“I just wanna know what happened, Sparky,” sobbed the bedridden drake. Twilight sucked in a whistled breath through her lips.
“I’m not sure you’re old enough for the talk quite yet but, let me tell you the parental consent version. It was Spring, which is a difficult time for mares without partners and Big Mac was just strutting around Ponyville, offering it on a rugged country-bumpkin plate. That made those poor mares go a little stir crazy and before he knew it, he was up to his eyeballs in--”
“No, no, no,” whined Spike, “I wanna know how I hurt my bum-bum.” Bum-bum? His mind lamented at the childish language, oh come on, that’s almost as bad as this story. Twilight backpedaled with a gulp and nodded in a clumsy hurry. Of course, that was what he meant, and she cursed her sleep-deprived mind for thinking anything different.
“Right, right, sorry, Spike.” She evacuated her lungs and filled them anew as she glanced away in shame. “I’m sorry, Spike.” The second apology did not feel like a repeat of the first, as though she had something else to regret. His rolling and disobedient eyes did their best to keep focused on her swirling and misty shapes, eyelids closing and opening out of sync. He forced his mouth to keep shut now as he let her tell him why he was here.
“It’s my fault. I was just thinking about solving the magical energy crisis in Saddlewood State and trying to keep Rainbow Dash and Rarity from falling out at the same time. I should have gone to collect Starswirl’s old spellbook for the Saddlewood incident instead of sending you. I just thought I could solve Rarity’s problem with Dash easier then and there but, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know how badly fastened that bookcase was to the wall and I never expected it to come down on you. I shouldn’t have sent you all the way up that ladder to get such a heavy tome, I-I feel awful.” Twilight hung her head and sniffled, her purple shades shutting.
Rarity and Dash had a problem with each other? Spike wracked his brains to try and remember what that had been, but the knock on his head must have tapped that loose from his mind too. Had he had something to do with that? He let it go as he saw a tear on his friend’s cheek. It’s okay, Twilight, he thought, I know you didn’t mean any harm.
“It’s okay, Twilight,” he said, “I have a cannon on my arm now and can blow up bad guys. Pew-pew!” It wasn’t anywhere near what he’d wanted to say as he thrust out his arm and set off a few playful shots, imagining cannonballs blasting from it, but that did make Twilight laugh to his relief and he smiled calmly as he gave a small sniff.
“Hey there,” a disembodied violet head had poked itself around the corner, “I see someone is awake.”
“Oh!” Twilight straightened up and slipped out of her chair, trotting over to the stallion. “Spike, you remember Dr. Function? He’s the pony treating me for, well, the dicky ticker…” She gave the doctor an awkward glance and the soft clearing of his throat suggested he had not forgotten the experience either. Making his way around the bed, he collected Spike’s charts and examined them.
“Interesting,” Spike caught him murmur before peeping over the clip at him, “and how are you doing today, young dragon?” I’m not too bad, Spike wanted to tell him, some parts of the body don’t feel like they are moving the way they used to, but I’m not in a great deal of pain.
“I have a cannon!” Spike proclaimed proudly and aimed it at him, ‘Pow!’ Dr. Function suddenly looked terribly shocked and betrayed, clutching the badge pinned to his white coat and staggering backward. He stumbled, sat and swayed with a cough.
“W-Why?” he asked breathlessly before gravity pulled him the rest of the way to the ground.
“Oh no!” Spike screamed, then burst into a flood of tears. “I’m a murderer!” Twilight rushed to his side as he began to hyperventilate, clinging to his sheets as he thought of the horde of guards that would come to arrest him. His head swam, his eyes grew blurrier, and before he could see the pony in the coat getting back to his hooves, he slumped in his restraints and slipped into a worry-induced faint.
~*~
When those eyes next opened, Spike found himself with fuzzy cognitive senses rather than muddled ones. His tongue tried to wet his dry lips only to find the Samareha desert was moister than his orifice. Thankfully, he did not have long to dwell on it. A friendly response made him roll his eyes to the left.
“Ah ha, there we are. You were right, Doctor Gates, he was waking up after all!” Function, no longer murdered, stood at his bedside, smiling at him. Spike gasped gently, to which the good doctor hurriedly raised his hoof to wave reassuringly and prove he was still in the room.
“Ee-gads, another grandioso guess from the great and genius, Golden Gate.” Dr. Function had never opened his mouth, and the voice was too young and feminine to have really been his unless he was a far more impressive mime artist than Spike had given him credit for. The dragon’s eyes darted around before settling back on the stallion he knew, squirming uncomfortably. The doctor’s grin was all that was shown to acknowledge the supposed ghost filly in the room.
“Apologies for scaring you earlier when you were still coming down from your medication, Spike. I was only pretending, but you seemed to take it seriously and then, well, passed out.” The last part was said sheepishly, followed by a small giggle that did not come from his muzzle.
Spike drifted his eyes to Twilight’s chair to find it empty. Not only that, the room had opened up, no longer consisting of curtains. It was long with walls painted in murals of friendly characters from comics and books in sunny picnic park settings. He wasn’t just in the hospital, he had been put in the ward for young foals, with more beds and more young occupants staying in them. The young drake’s eyes turned to the doctor and he huffed.
“Really?” Spike groaned. “You’ve put me in with the foals?”
“Where would you expect to be, Mister Baby Dragon?” said the invisible speaker once again.
“Who said that?” he grumbled. Dr. Function chuckled, not sensing Spike’s frustrations or not letting them get the better of him. He reached down and petted something that was just below the line of vision the bed and restrains gave the young dragon.
“That’ll be my assistant, Dr. Golden Gate,” he replied confidently, providing a grin that would have a dentist’s compliments. His patient cocked his eyebrow in doubt, so the doctor gave the unseen speaker a pat and a few whispered words. A moment passed and his horn provided an aura around that hidden horse, lifting them up. It wasn’t long before a face, torso and front legs popped up from the hidden depths, greeting him with a friendly smile.
It was a filly, couldn’t have been older than six or seven, playing dress up in a huge white physician's coat. On top of her head sat a mop of an orange mane and beneath the coat lay pale sunflower fur. Sunset eyes completed what would have been a cute face if it hadn’t looked so ill. She was gaunt, sickly, with her cheekbones poking through her skin. Her eye sockets were deeper holes than a healthy child’s and her eyelids drooped in a constantly tired expression. She was definitely a patient rather than a doctor, but the smile on her face didn’t know that as it beamed enduringly at him.
“Hello, Spike, I’m Dr. Gate, and I’m a doctor of cuddle sciences,” she proclaimed proudly, raising her voice to squeaky heights as she announced her field of expertise. Behind her, Function chuckled endearingly. She tapped her hooves on the bed and continued.
“Wavy--that’s Dr. Function to you--has invited me to be the pony to congratulate you.” Those tiny hooves patted each other in whimsical delight. “We are happy to tell you that you do not have a spinal injury!” Was this a joke? Spike’s eyes rolled over to the actual doctor questioningly and prompted him to step in.
“Ah, right. You jumped the fence a little there, Goldie.” Rather than sounding chastising, though, Wavy’s legs wrapped around the levitating foal and he brought her back delicately to his chest. The pair could have looked like father and daughter by the way the molded so easily into one another, her meatless frame snuggled into his big protective arms. With her nuzzling fondly under his chin and against his slightly fuzzy cheek, he gave Spike a calming gaze.
“When you first came to us, er, there were fears you may have injured your back when the bookcase fell on you.” He delivered the analysis carefully, but some relief came through in his tone as he explained the good news. “However, I am happy to say that those tests have come back as a negative to any injuries. Your spine is perfectly intact.”
“Yay!” Golden giggled joyfully. Spike tried to remain stoic, but could not help cracking a smile at her response. She really had something endearing about her despite that feeble skeleton structure. The dragon wiggled uncomfortably and shuffled his shoulders, wincing at the aches and pains throughout his body.
“Does that mean I can be released from this brace then?”
“Oh, of course.” Wave summoned a nurse across and continued the prognosis as together they cautiously eased Spike out of his healing bindings. “You have a snapped fibula, that’s--”
“That’s in my leg, next to the tibia,” Spike finished, nodding, “after a heavy download session from her books, Twilie talks in her sleep. I learn a lot against my will from her mumbling into her pillow.”
“I see,” the doctor brought the clipboard out from the end of Spike’s bed and scribbled on it with a mutter, “late night studying. That’s not going to do her angina any good.” He cleared his throat. “But back to your fibula, we have had to insert a metal rod to support the bone’s growth. As a result, we’ve not had to put a cast on it but you do have a very cool scar you’ll have for the rest of your life. You do have a fracture on the radius--“
“Arm.” He raised the thing he’d mistaken for a cannon earlier.
“Correct,” the physician humored the drake, “that has needed a short arm cast. The rest of your body consists of some bruises and bumps. You have suffered a concussion but thankfully there have been no breakages to your skull, only a lump and a minor cut there. Overall, you were a very lucky young dragon.”
“I’ll tell you when I feel like one,” grunted Spike, but smiled to the nurse as she finally had him freed from his brace. He quickly and humbly added, “Thank you, though, Doc. I appreciate the trouble you took to look after me. When can I go home?” The doctor sucked air through his teeth and tapped gently on his clipboard with the point of the pen.
“Uncertain, we need to keep you in for a few days to make sure your fibula is repairing the way we’d expect it to,” he acknowledged Spike’s groan as the drake slumped back onto his pillow, “but we’ll let you go as soon as we’re certain you won’t need further surgery. The Princess had to go, something about the Saddlewood crisis, but your other friends have promised to pop by over the course of time to make the experience less dull.”
The little lavender and leaf green dragon considered his detainment to this open prison, his shackles created to do him more good than harm. When his nose released the breath he’d sucked in, it let a small safe puff of irritated sulfur fumes leave his nostrils. He’d seen how boring and laborious a stint in the healthy hotel had been on his poor chum Rainbow… why had she been fighting with Rarity again? It was… something, his brain knew it was important, he knew there was another reason why Twilight had sent him out of the room, but… agh, his head felt like someone had stuffed cotton wool inside the front of his cranium.
As he returned from his mind palace, which was more like a mind labyrinth for the youthful scalie, he noticed the skinny foal on the end of his bed looking at him hopefully.
“In the interests of pr-promoting a speedy recovery, I would very much like to give you a shot of warm cuddles, Spike…” Golden gazed up into the air to recall some of the bigger words, chuffing happily when she got to the end of it. With a nicker of pride, Dr. Function slipped a foreleg around the twig pony for a small and quick hug, something she enjoyed like a faithful pup getting a belly rub. Yet she still looked to Spike with an ounce of hope. He wore a poker face as he meditated on the appeal.
“Come on, then.” It was worth agreeing just for the shining glee Golden Gate gave him. He moved some of his aching joints, groaning as he did his best to sit up. The good leg helped to push him back into his pillow, his face showing the nasty sensations when he tried to use any other limb, which Wave and the nurse took as a sign to help him.
“This is as bad as the time Twilight dressed me up head to toe in bandages like a mummy,” Spike grumbled.
“Aww, for Nightmare Night?” the nurse inquired.
“No,” mumbled Spike, “a science experiment. Wanted to see if mummies could actually exist. We found out they’d have a hard time walking about if they did.”
“Why…” Wave started but thought better of it. He shook away the question and fluffed Spike’s pillow. “Okay, Goldie, the patient is all ready for the treatment!”
Golden Gate scrambled across the bed clumsily, her hind legs dragging more than helping her. She was still careful not to hurt the broken dragon under the sheets and soon found a safe place to flop and roll herself into his propped up pillows. She wiggled in to get comfy and nickered pleasantly at their softness. Once settled, Goldie’s head turned.
Spike gave her a sheepish smile, one she returned as she subtly moved closer to him with the muscles in her back. It took a little effort for the weak little lady, yet perseverance, persistence, and a little help from Spike’s good arm soon had her pressed up against his side. When she could feel his body warmth, her nose moved under his chin. It was an endearing gesture, turning her into a tiny wretch of a kitten whose goal was to get warm and show a bit of affection to their friend. Her right hoof, gloved by the overlong sleeve of the coat she was still wearing, pawed him for a moment before she found his shoulder then she tensed. A little concern came over Spike’s face, about to ask if something was wrong.
“Squee-eeze,” came the soft sweet voice under his chin. The single word relieved him as he understood and he chuckled before smiling softly. His best arm, his writing arm which he was glad wasn’t the one to have been busted up, clutched her back.
“Squeeze,” he whispered, with less enthusiasm. Still, the curve of his lips did not depart. He settled as soon as she did, the warm bones a comfort after the strangeness of the past few events. Spike let harmony come and he enjoyed it for a few seconds, not worrying about anybody else around him. She was a stranger, some kid he’d only known all of ten minutes, yet one hug seemed to help him understand her. Maybe, he considered, that was why she did it.
The grown-ups with stuck in statuesque poses of veneration over the two kids until the dragon paid them his attention once more. The nurse shook out of it first as she realized she had other foals in the room to see and trotted off to take care of her duties. Wave eased out of his frozen admiration with a deep breath in through the nostrils. It brought life to the mind cogs, the stallion shifting back into the seat for visitors.
“You okay there?” he asked playfully. Spike opened his mouth and felt Goldie’s pointy nose bump against his chin. The dragon was coming to realize that this foal could fit anypony or being easily when it came to cuddling up to them. Ignoring some of her xylophone ribs, she felt as natural to cuddle as though he was snuggling Twilight or holding Rarity.
“Uh huh!” vibrated an answer from his handler. The doctor rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
“We know you are, Dr. Gate, I meant your patient.” The small pony gave a small “oh” noise and lifted herself a little to check that her treatment was working. The recovering drake’s jade eyes rose up to her and his head moved delicately. A noise of refrained delight whispered out of the foal, to which she lay back down and her eyes returned to the stallion guarding over them.
“He will live,” she answered truthfully. Mirthfully, Wave agreed. Before he could say any more, however, “but I think a special bedtime story from you would help speed up his recovery exper… expee...expo…” The little creature lifted her head and shoulders up over her bed buddy as she tried to recall what complicated word it was she wanted to say. With a frustrated nicker at the blankness of her comprehension, she lay back down on Spike and settled for, “really speedily.” She didn’t let the defeat faze her as her hugging partner felt her cheek muscles rise once more against his collar bone.
“Well, I don’t know,” the doctor started. “Spike? Would you like to hear a story?”
“Sure,” Spike answered when he’d pondered it, “one story can’t hurt.”
Wave thought about it, checking a ticking Whinny the Bear clock on the wall across the room. Nodding in satisfaction, he accepted that he had time for one quick story.
“What kind of story would you like to hear?”
“I’d like to--”
“Ah, ah,” the appointed story-teller admonished the foal gently, “let your new friend decide this time around.” Yet, the kind heart in Spike wouldn’t let greed take over this moment and he patted his good claws on Golden Gate’s shoulder.
“What do you want to hear?”
“I want to hear--Loony!” The yell was so sudden and startling that Spike jumped and then gave a regretful yowl out in pain because of it. The foal hurriedly apologized for hurting him and checked him over, but no real damage was done and he seemed more concerned as to why she’d cried out than his own injuries. “Loony, my cuddle pony.” She looked to the doctor, who was already on his hooves with serious eyes and full attention. “I left Loony in my bed, Wavy, I need Loony, she’ll be getting cold.”
Thankfully, the stallion seemed to understand and be able to break this code. He nodded once and trotted gently across the room while the drake and foal watched him go. He reached the bed and for a moment, Spike thought there was another actual foal sleeping inside of it. However, Function gently engaged his horn to roll back her bed covers from the sleeping lump. A soft “aha” passed his muzzle and up rose the dozing pony, levitated on a thin carpet of magic back across the room to them. The drake considered this to be a mite bit cruel to lift and dangle some other kid with magic, but then he realized it was not a kid at all. He smiled as he saw the seams, the fake yet soft looking blue fur, the black and white moon cutie mark sewn onto its flanks and its forever open azure eyes.
“Oh, Princess Luna,” Spike said in recognition of the figure the plushie had been based upon as he glanced to Gate. Her lip jutted out and her head shook fiercely.
“No,” she said as though it was common knowledge that he was wrong. “That’s Loony. Princess Luna is too busy being a princess to come cuddle me so Loony is her stunt-double.”
“Ah, sorry, my mistake,” Spike humored, grinning as the doll, taller than either of them, was delicately placed down between the pair with ‘Loony’s’ head able to be squeezed between the stick horse and her patient. The amethyst drake mumbled that the bed was starting to get a little crowded now, then caught one of the triangle radars on Golden’s head lower so added that he didn’t mind it really. He nuzzled against the filly’s plush as well and found it to be as soft as he had imagined it would be. The doctor let the kids take a small amount of time to relax with their new snuggler before he climbed back into his chair and prompted them to give him a story to tell.
“Something about Princess Luna?” suggested Goldie. The eyebrow raise on Spike’s face was noted. “Loony likes to hear stories about her lookalike,” the little twig of sunshine explained. Her friend gave a soft sigh of comprehension, nodded and looked to the stallion, hoping he had enough there to tell a story. There was a huge grin on Wave Function’s face.
“I was hoping you would ask me for one of those,” he replied confidently. “I have just the story for you.” He settled back in the armchair, making it look far comfier than it was, and wiggled a few times before he was sure he had found the full potential of its service. “Relax, get settled and ready, kids.”
Spike let the foal squirm and relax first, watching her amicably. She caught his eye and the pair shared a smile before she stopped moving and her focus returned to Wave. Spike was careful not to disturb Goldie’s resting place on him and Loony too much as he took a moment to see that many other foals in their sick beds had sat up enough to listen to the story as well. Even a few of the more mobile ones, such as a pegasus with a bandaged wing and a pony with wrappings around his head and jaw, had sat closer to listen to the storyteller. The doctor greeted each by name as they came over, then his face fixed on the couple with their soft toy in the bed.
“This is the story of Princess Luna and the pony who lost her other half,” he began, his audience pricking up their ears.
“Once, a very, very long time ago, Princess Luna was traveling alone throughout Equestria. Long before her sister had to put her away in the moon, the Princess liked to visit new and strange places she had not yet seen, for the world was still new to her and she dared to see all of it.” As all good storytellers do, Function checked that the story was to his listeners’ liking. A quick scan of the eyes and ears pointing in his direction told him to continue.
“It was in a strange land known as er, Splitsville, that Princess Luna first met a very odd mare indeed. She looked like an ordinary pony when the Princess first saw her from the side, and so Luna called out in a nice friendly Canterlot voice,” he cleared his throat, and then, at the top of his lungs yelled, “HELLO THERE, CITIZEN OF SPLITSVILLE!”
“Shh!” hissed the nurse from the across the room at Function, causing soft giggles as the foals witnessed such a ridiculous thing as an adult being told off. The doctor sent her an abashed wave in apology yet shared a silent chortle and a wink to the children when her back turned again. Spike glanced at Golden still tickled by the silliness of her professional friend and shared a small piece of her amusement with her too. Cautiously, the berry purple pony watched as more foals joined his little band of listeners from their beds, then persisted on with the story.
“This made the pony jump in surprise and hop to face Luna, before stumbling into a bow when she saw who had hailed her. This was the first time Princess Luna saw what was so odd about this pony.”
“What was so odd about her, Dr. Funny?” piped a chestnut maned foal by the arm of his chair. He smiled calmly and leaned over, tapping her nose with his for a moment and ruffling her mane.
“I shall tell you, Rosetta!” he straightened up and watched for the reactions from the group. “She was not a whole pony. In fact, she was half of one! She had two legs, half a body, half a tail!” His voice grew in excitement when the ponies around him gasped. “Only one cutie mark, only half a mane, one eye, and half a mouth! Somepony had split her completely down the middle!”
“Tha-aat sounds kinda messy,” grimaced Spike, causing a sharp intake and a quick laugh from the narrator.
“Not at all, she still had fur on her other side, but it was clear she was missing another half of her body,” he said, rescuing any foal with a strong imagination from a gory scene more suited to a Game of Pones story than a bedtime tale. “Princess Luna was so horrified to see this, she--”
“Ahem,” reminded the nurse, expecting him to try that Canterlot voice again. The adult colt quickly nodded.
“She forgot all about the traditions of shouting at subjects and instead gasped, ‘Bless my windigoes, where is the rest of you?’ The half-mare straightened back up and sighed lamentingly, a single tear dripping from her single eye. ‘An evil giant picked me up and pulled me apart! I escaped, but my other half was too weak to escape, she is still in his evil cave,’ and poor half- pony cried, cried and she cried.”
“Aww,” cooed somepony from the front row. Beside Spike, Golden sniffled. Tears were not flowing but Spike did find her smile turned on its head when he checked on her. His hand touched her back and guided her, with Loony, to snuggle in closer which she gladly did. Tap-tap-tap, her little nose went on the tip of his chin. Unconsciously, he lowered his snout and snorted warmly against hers. He felt her smile and sank back into the story Wave was telling, imagining a pony in a tiny village having to hop about after Princess Luna.
“‘--Shall not need fear anymore, good citizen,’ Luna told her new friend, ‘we are here now and shall go rescue your other half!’ The split pony was so happy with this news that she tried to hug Princess Luna, which was a struggle with only one front leg! Can you hug with one leg?“ He examined his crowd and gestured to a little pair of unicorns, “You two try, only one leg on the floor and one leg hugging…”
The laughter resulted in the nurse scolding her co-worker once more, but it was all in good fun as the young ponies tried and ultimately failed to hug each other with one limb on the floor and one around their friends. The only one not to tumble was a little pegasus colt until they realized he was flapping his wing and cheating. Not wanting to be left out of anything, he tucked his wings back in and soon he too was rolling over with his pal.
“Okay,” the doctor waited for the kids to get up and calm down, “Luna set off with the half pony. ‘What is your name?’ she asked as they began their travels. ‘Aphrodite,’ she replied. ‘It is very nice to meet you, Aphrodite,’ Luna said. ‘Please get on my back so that we may travel faster!’ So, she did, and together they traveled day and night, over desert and mountain, through winds and rains until they reached the big, bad cave where the big, bad giant lived.
“As they approached the cave,” he continued, “they heard a big, loud ROAAAR--”
“Doctor, I will not tell you again!” snapped the nurse, crossing her arms. Spike felt himself jump at the attendant’s scolding rather than the snarl of the giant, but then he had visited the kingdom of his peers to see his friend Ember many times now and had become used to the odd roar and snarl now and again. Shouting, on the other claw, often meant Twilight had slipped on one of the comics he’d left lying around again. Golden’s hoof tightened on him again. His unscathed claw moved and stroked her straw-like mane, eliciting a small but bright nicker from her.
“Y-Yes, s-sorry, Nurse Joy,” Wave replied. There was a squint of his eyes and a scrunch of his nose as he avoided her gaze for the rest of the story. He licked his lips as his eyes searched the pages of an invisible storybook before he recalled where he had left off.
“The bellow from inside the cave terrified Aphrodite, but it only spurred Luna to keep going and rescue the lost half of this poor mare. ‘Do not fear,’ she called to her friend, ‘we shall save your other part yet!’ And, with the half-pony on her back, she charged into the deep, dark tunnel.
“It was long, and dark, and winding, but soon they saw a firelight ahead. Hiding behind a rock, Luna peered into the cavernous hall and found herself looking upon a ginormous stallion with a messy orange mane, sparkling aqua-blue eyes, and shiny plum-colored fur doing puzzles from a humongous puzzle book.”
“That’s you,” cried out Golden Gate, sitting up briefly from lying on Loony and Spike, laughing gaily. Function pulled a ridiculous face.
“What are you, crazy? Didn’t you hear, it was a great, big giant pony, not a ruggedly handsome doctor. Don’t be so silly,” he answered with a less-than-secret smirk. “The giant raised his head and sniffed the air. He could smell them!” A small murmur of worry for their heroes rustled through the raptured foals as they leaned closer, hoping the Princess and her friend would save the day. How, oh, how could Princess Luna defeat a colossal giant? This question, Dr. Function told them, was echoed by Luna’s companion.
“‘I shall go and speak with him,’ Luna said without fear, stepping out around the rock. ‘Don’t!’ Aphrodite called, ‘he is smart and a trickster, he will get you too!’ ‘He can but try,’ Luna told her, and she marched right up to the giant who was so surprised to see the Princess in his cave that he dropped the giant sudoku puzzle he was doing into his fire and had to spend several moments trying to put it out!
“‘You made me drop my book,’ he yelled, ‘you’d better have a good reason for that!’ ‘I do!’ retorted the Princess, scanning around and seeing Aphrodite’s other half in a cage. “I require the second piece of my friend so that I can put her back together and you will give her to me!’
“‘No, I won’t,’ he said angrily,”
“Yes, you will,” Loony, whose voice sounded unsurprisingly like Goldie’s, was suddenly pushing past Spike’s nose to riposte against the ‘big, bad giant’. It seemed that suddenly the story had become real, Loony was now Luna, facing her foe with a heart and a soul of a heroine. The dragon looked back to Function to see him play the part of the villain. The doctor slapped his hooves on his knees and leaned in defiantly.
“Oh no, I won’t,” he uttered, remembering to keep his voice down so as not to get in trouble a final time.
“Oh yes, you will!” ‘Loony’ answered, bouncing in irritation on Spike’s covered up legs soft enough not to provoke the stitches or dressings beneath them. A ripple of agreements from the crowd echoed ‘Loony’s’ sentiments. Function feigned a growl.
“Oh no, I won’t!”
“Yes, you will!” Everypony, even Nurse Joy, joined in with Golden Gate’s puppet this time. Spike found Golden wearing a beaming grin when he next looked, her deep sleepy eyes looking over her people with pride and tenacity. Fixing that gaze on Function, she nodded obdurately. They would not be moved until the giant backed down.
“Oh no, I won’t!” The doctor reached his hooves out for Loony, who did an awkward dance to bat them away. Amongst all of this came some awed gasps at the strange battle, however, Wave raised his legs away, emptied-hooved and quickly continued his story before anypony could think that was its end.
“The giant had tricked Luna into arguing with him so that she did not see how close he had gotten to her until it was too late! He grabbed her, held her above his head and tugged her by each wing until with a rip, and a tear, he used his giant magic and tore her in two just like he had with Aphrodite!”
“Oh no,” the young dragon found himself whimpering as he shuddered in his bed, seeing in the eye of his mind the Princess become separated into halves. Touches and brushes of Golden’s cheek brought him back and this time, he squeezed her back, glad she was there to comfort him. He was only a little dragon after all.
“Do not worry, guys,” Wave Function assured them, “this is Princess Luna we’re talking about here. Even split up, the giant was still no match for her. With skills taught to her by the best ninja ponies of Neighpon, acrobatics she learned from the greatest circus acts in Equestria, and a little bit of magic, her two halves slipped out of the giant’s grasp. Together they hopped along his legs, spun in the air and kicked him on to the ground before he even knew what was happening!” A cheer broke out. Foals clopped their hooves on the tiles delightedly and Nurse Joy skipped in place. It was Dr. Function who hurriedly simmered it back down this time, clearing his throat and shuffling as he waved his hooves.
“Settle, please. Kids, Nurse, settle… good.” He smiled reservedly and flourished his forelegs out enigmatically to his patients. “Luna, a clever and industrious student of Starswirl the Bearded, repaired her body back to its whole self in no time at all and then freed the two pieces of Aphrodite to be reunited as well. ‘I missed you!’ ‘I missed you too!’ They both cried and cuddled as Luna kept the giant brute down.”
“Did Princess Luna put, um, put Aphrodite back together?” a foal with a dark hazelnut mane asked. The question received an emphatic nod.
“Oh yes, she did indeed,” smiled the doctor, “in fact, she found many more ponies in that cave with missing halves, and soon she had magically repaired them all. Once every pony was safe and whole, the Princess turned to that mean old giant. However, just as she was about to give him a piece of her mind, she found him crying so hard and heavily that he had doused out his fire and created a big pond in the middle of his cave.
“‘What have you possibly got to be sad about?’ she asked him in frustration, for Luna back then was not the calm and considerate pony we know and love today. ‘I’m going to be so lonely again,’ wept the giant, ‘I only split ponies up so that I could keep a part of them and not be all alone.’ Luna mercifully considered this. ‘Do you truly feel sorry for your actions?’ she asked him, sitting at the edge of what was now a lake he was sat in. ‘I really, really do,’ he answered, and Luna smiled.”
“She’s going to be his friend?” The daffodil pony pressed against Spike gawped at the possible plot twist. Slight dimples showed on the grape red stallion.
“The Princess was the first to offer to be a friend for the lonely giant. ‘If you promise not to split another pony, I shall come to pay you a visit every single week of my existence,’ she promised him, and she was as good as her word. The next week, she was there at the mouth of his cave, asking if now was a good time for a visit. He agreed and together they solved puzzles, ate a rather large supper and talked until the dead of night.
“The next week, Luna wasn’t alone, as she convinced Aphrodite to bravely join her in a visit with the gigantic stallion who had kidnapped a half of her. She had such a good time laughing, dancing and singing with the pair that by the next week, she had convinced more ponies to come to see the giant. The more visits he had from the Princess, the more they had extra company until they were even visiting him when Luna was not there. Yet, when the Lady of the Night did come to stay, she always came before anypony else and left long after they had left. For, you see, as time went on, Princess Luna fell helplessly in love with the stallion who was more than ten times taller than her.”
“Awww,” Spike found himself crooning, before perking up in surprise. Had he really just enjoyed a love story? Gross! He hid in embarrassment from the sniggering foals and tried not to enjoy it too much when Golden pressed her snout against his cheek for a slow, sweeping nuzzle.
“Did, um, did they get married?” asked another colt, before hurriedly adding, “I’m a-asking for a friend.” Good, thought Spike as he observed the small guy look shiftily around at the youngsters around him, at least I’m not the only one this tale is turning soft.
“You know, I don’t know that.” Wave winked and grinned. “What I do know however is that the giant stallion was never sad or lonely ever again. You see, he took halves of the ponies he met to keep him company, but he didn’t see what the real solution to his problem was until he met Princess Luna.”
“And what was that?” Spike piped up curiously, earning a canny flick of the doctor’s eyebrows when his eyes skipped over to him.
“He was missing his own ‘stronger other-half’. It was only when he met that wonderful Princess of the Night, that he truly found it in her.” He smiled and relaxed as though he’d released a party popper he’d been holding onto for days and glanced around the group. “That, kids, is the end of the story. Hope you enjoyed it!” While the foals whinnied and applauded their hooves happily on the floor, the recovering dragon took a few soft sniffs. He noticed Golden shifting to look over him and blushed gently, stretching out the kinks in his shoulders by rolling them up and back.
“M-Must be a bit of dust around,” he mumbled awkwardly under the hubbub, eyes flitting to and from her. “You enjoyed that story, Goldie?”
“Mhm,” she said thoughtfully with eyelids drooping further than before. She’d been so vocal in the heart of the yarn that he’d expected her to have more to say about Luna and the giant yet after a hum and a nod, she lapsed into silence. He watched the shutters on her eyes fall lower and scowled in concern.
“Are you alright, Golden Gate?”
“She’s just tired,” Dr. Function answered for her as he stepped over, the little ponies being ushered back to their beds by the nurse, telling them to settle down before their suppers arrived. “She gets sleepy early in the evenings, don’t you, Dr. Gate?”
“Mhm,” she replied simply. Despite this, she made every effort to snuggle into Spike one last time, telling him, “I gotta get back to my bed, but it was really nice to meet you, Mister Dragon.”
“It was nice to meet you too, I’ll see you again soon for more cuddle shots, right?”
“Mhm,” she nodded and reluctantly pulled away from him, sitting up to hold her forelegs out to the doctor. Collecting the tiny dearheart delicately, Wave didn’t resist taking a small hug for himself from her. Contentedly, Spike watched the foal nuzzle into her stallion friend’s short fluff on his cheeks and ensured that they did not forget Loony when Wave slipped Golden onto his back for the short walk back to her bed. Fiddling with his sheets and squirming his way achingly back down under them didn’t stop his eyes from following them. A soft sigh started in his stomach first and rose through him like a bubble before it finally floated out of partially parted lips.
The doctor fondly stroked Goldie once she was tucked into her own bed, then moved along.
“Spike, need anything?”
“Naw, I’m good for now,” the scaled boy and the ginger-maned caretaker smiled to one another fleetingly, as the latter was called away by the pastel-pink nurse. Despite the strange solitude that suddenly came from something he’d enjoyed coming to an end, his heart was still warmed as he gazed back to his new friend across the ward. The exhausted foal, soft as butter, was still using some of her remaining energy to make Loony wave at him. He raised his disarmed arm cannon carefully and kindly gestured back, feeling his cheeks pushed so high that his short fangs protruded over his bottom lip.
“Supper time, girls and boys,” called a different bespectacled stallion, leading a trolley into the room with this forelegs. Spike observed him serving the first ponies at the front of the ward for a while and let his mind wander a little. When he turned his gaze back to Golden Gate, she was fast asleep.
~*~
Smoke billowed from a singed field far outside of Ponyville.
Across it lay the remains of a battle, bodies splattered across the burning grounds with remains of pastry and blueberry fillings covering their executed forms. Small fires still tickled the brown grass, while a larger one raged from a once-white tent that had gotten caught up in the crossfire. Pie launchers and slingshots were strewn around the mess of the old park that had been a favorite hotspot for picnics and social meetings of ponies. It looked as though it would be a long time before it would be like that again.
This was not the end of the war, however. It was the beginning of its conclusion.
Two armies stood at either end of the no-pony-zone, staring daggers across the expanse at one another. They snorted and dragged hooves through the grating dirt with their teeth bared, horns flared on one side and wings spread on the other. There were red and blue uniforms and banners to signal which side was which but even without these, it was easy to tell who was on which side. This was made simple by the identical azure coated, multicolor-maned mares camping on one end of the field and the pearl-furred unicorns on the other, immaculate purpurate heads and tails tossing in righteous fury.
Spike found himself pushing through the clone army of Rainbow Dash, reaching the front line with a cocktail of horror and fear bubbling in his guts. Ahead of him steamed and blistered the Rarity squadron, preparing to launch into the final fight for superiority. The boy staggered out in front of the flapping blues and sought the leading member of the military. Spying the Dashie dressed up as General Cluster, of all ponies, he rolled his eyes and raced towards her.
“Hey, wait,” he screamed out, “why are you fighting? Please, Rainbow, you are friends!” The headstrong pegasus ignored the yelling dragon, leaping over him in one bound and stamping down in a show of defiance to their rivals. She flung her head up, spread her wings out and spat a timberwolf snarl.
“I’m sick of you playing him, Rares!” General Dash barked across the battlegrounds. “It ends right here, right now!”
“What on Equestria do you suggest I do, Rainbow Dash?” came the articulate reply from the opposing team. The young dragon looked back to see the eye of the blue mare twitch angrily.
“Who are you talking about?” he tried to ask, but Dash shot back her response to her antagonist without an answer for him.
“It’s not a trial to join the Wonderbolts, you dumb conehead. You need to decide what you want, then grow a spine and chat to him about your relationship!”
“How dare you!” screeched the main Rarity, her soldiers scornfully neighing in disgust around her. “You do not understand the relationship Spike and I share, you-you wicked, motormouth… pigeon!”
“Pigeon? PIGEON?” The general foamed at the mouth as Spike’s eyes widened, looking from one side to the other in astonishment. His jaw fell and he stammered while Dash turned to her army of replicas. “NOPONY CALLS ME A PIGEON!”
…Spike...
“You are fighting over me?” came the whimper, hoping one of these livid pegasi would catch his voice. It fell on deaf ears, fresh weapons and cannons being lifted and readied for renewed battle. “No,” gasped Spike, realizing he was on the wrong side. Claws dug through the dirt as his little legs launched him across the wartorn picnic destination towards the infantry of his most elegant friend.
He could see the Raritys also preparing to restart the fight, then his tears blurred his vision. He couldn’t let either of them hurt each other with words or anger anymore, especially not over him. He loved them both equally as his friends, he never looked for or needed more than that, couldn’t they see this?
As his mind battled over these thoughts, he did not see the leg of one of the fallen stretched out in front of him until his foot caught it, tripping him head over tail. His fall sank him to the grass, where the mud and mess of various spent fruit pie ammunitions made it hard for him to get up. He heard the cries and bugles of the two opposing sides and looked up to see them begin the charge. He was about to be caught in the middle of this ultimate game of chicken.
…Spike...
“STOP!” He sobbed fiercely. “PLEASE HEAR ME!”
They didn’t, two unstoppable streaks burning towards each other. He tried appealing to the blitzing blue bomb boosting his way.
“STOP THIS, DASH, I LOVE YOU BOTH!” The powerful wings kept beating, the rose eyes locked onto their targets. He spun about, getting to his feet and flinging his hands out to try and get the Raritys to see sense.
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS! JUST TALK ABOUT IT! DON’T FIGHT OVER ME!” The white fire kept coming, horns blasting out bright lights as they grew closer and closer, the clash imminent.
…Spike...
“NOOOOOOOO~!” howled Spike as he flung his arms up in a last-ditch attempt to protect himself from his fighting friends, dropping to his knees and waiting for the impact. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO~”
“...SPIKE!”
~*~
The dragon shot up in bed, immediately crumpling like scrunched up paper in a fire as pain licked through his body. Somepony was stroking his clammy scales, but his eyes were so blurred and his body burned with the stings of his previously reconstructed wounds that he couldn’t bring himself to look at them for a while. He brought several deep swallows of oxygen to his lungs and shuddered in the dark, wet from sweat bed.
It had, of course, been a nightmare. His friends had not really battled to the death, and if he had been well enough to revisit that picnic location he would have found the only shocking thing might be a couple of owl pellets or a forgotten muffin casing. The fact, however, remained that the horrible dream had been based on a disheartening reality.
“Spike? Are you okay? D-Do you want me to go call for Dr. Function or Nurse Joy?” The scared question came from a weak and scratchy voice that he immediately recognized. He crept his eye open and turned his forest-colored iris towards Golden Gate, who had stretched her small front half over to reach him. With her small stature and depleted energy, it must have taken so much effort for her to make it that far. Using his good arm, Spike helped her up onto his bed tenderly then let her shift into him as she nuzzled and anxiously nudged against him. He hugged her, helping her ease down as she found her place against his body.
“I…” He paused, a twinge resurfacing but only briefly reminding him of the shape his constitution was in. “I’m okay. It was just a nightmare, then I sat up too fast, that’s all.”
“You sure?” she mumbled quietly. “What was your nightmare about?” Spike let his mind mull over the question for a moment as he took in his surroundings in their twilight state. The Whinny the Bear clock still ticked, a squint at it letting him estimate it was early after midnight. Golden’s bed was nearly absent, kept warm by a dark silhouette which reassuringly had to be Loony. The rest of the occupied beds had the snoozing heads of mostly restful foals poked from the quilts, only a couple of pairs of bleary eyes proving that their ailments were keeping them awake. Another was trying to hide that she currently had her snout buried in a book. From a few machines in the room came rhythmic beep-beep-beeps that reassured him with the knowledge that the colt or filly they were overwatching did not need urgent care. An artificial lung wheezed and hissed elsewhere, but he did not go searching for who it was that required it. Once he’d got his bearings, he let Gate see his eyes again, free from hurt.
“It was about my friends, Goldie,” he told her, “they had a big falling out before I got hurt and I’m worried that they might never speak to each other again.” He felt her go rigid as she tried to give him that warm squash, her head rubbing insistently into his good arm.
“Wha-What did they fall out about?” she probed, her voice squeaking on a couple of the words as her vocal cords revolted against her being awake this late.
“Me, I think,” he scowled at his honesty but persisted nonetheless, “see, I’m… there’s… err… one of them, her name’s Rarity, she and I…well, I...” He stumbled over his own tongue as it tied itself up, trying to make sense of things he’d never earnestly spoken about before.
“Oh,” whispered Golden Gate with more knowledge than she should have gleaned from such a tangle of broken sentences. Spike shook his head hurriedly while the tiny, thin-as-rail pony wiggled back to look up at him.
“I-It’s not like that?”
“Yes, it is,” she stated shortly.
“No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, Spike, it very clearly is,” she finished. To Spike, her expression looked like it should have come from a pony far older than Golden Gate, her frail frame not deserving of this sweet and inquisitive seven-year-old. A claw came up to touch her on her shoulder and he released the sigh he’d forced to hide in his chest cavity.
“Okay, if it was like that, and I am not saying it is,” he gathered that sigh back inside himself with a deep inhale, “the other friend, Rainbow, she was trying to protect me from getting hurt. She doesn’t want me to like somepony in that way if they don’t like me back. She and I think Rarity does like me in that way, but… but… Rarity’s older than me. A lot older, we cannot be… you know, that.” Spike could see exactly how it would go down with everypony else. Their friends would be disgusted in them and Twilight would surely disown them. They’d be scorned out of Ponyville and soon all of Equestria would know, and Celestia would definitely not stand for it. He had only seen the head of state furious a couple of times and blessed his stars that it had not been directed at anypony he knew. He hated the thought of that fury raining down upon him and his secret crush.
He realized that as he had been inspecting the troubles of his mind, Golden had been still and silent. Had she fallen asleep?
“Goldie?” he whispered, just in case she had. She didn’t say a word. Deciding Luna’s sands had found her once more, Spike began to lie them both back so that his new little friend could be comfortable. He was just collecting the sheets in his teeth to tug them over her when she finally made a noise, nearly forcing him to jump out of his scales in surprise.
“Luna was allowed to fall in love with the giant,” Golden Gate said it so matter-of-factly that it was as though the simple sentence should have solved every problem Spike was facing. Once his nerves were resting once more, he addressed this statement with a simple grunt of confusion. Luckily, she assumed that he wanted to know why she felt that was the solution to his problem and persisted with her explanation. “The giant was big, and he’d been mean, he didn’t really deserve Luna’s love, but she loved him anyway. So if Luna was allowed to love a big, greedy giant, why can’t you love a pony who is older than you?”
“It’s far more complicated than that,” he mumbled, glad of the darkness as he continued to tuck them both in. He hadn’t accounted for the moonlight, however, as it snuck in through a crack in the curtains and glistened off of one of his cheeks. The foal’s sluggish gaze caught sight of the dampness of those deep-indigo scales. To Spike’s surprise, Goldie used all of her strength to give him a proper squeeze and the foal pressed the top of her mane against his jaw with insistence.
“Doesn’t have to be a kissy, icky, lovey-dovey love thingie, Spike,” she fussed resolutely, “as long as she knows you wanna cuddle her and you know she wants to cuddle you. Don’t be sad, be happy. That’s what your friends really want, for you to be happy, just like--” she paused to yawn, “--just like Luna wanted Affy-diet-tea and the giant to be happy.” Spike gave a soggy laugh at the cute way the foal fumbled on the name of the pony who got her other half back, acknowledging it with a rock of his head. He let the thoughts of the halcyon foal feed into what he already thought and knew, allowing his brain to process them.
For a little creature of skin and bone, Golden Gate was a radiator of heat against the cool armor Spike was made up of. For him, it was like having his favorite hot water bottle snuggled in his working arm on a sick day. For her, it was like having the chilly but refreshing side of the pillow all the time. Genially, he ran his dulled claws through her mane, the soft breath of another living soul puffing over his chest soothing him. In this chaste embrace, he felt he finally understood what it was she meant.
“I think you might be right, Goldie,” he eventually murmured, smiling slowly. “As long as we love each other the same way we already do, things will be just fine.” He felt some of his weights become butterflies, catching a breeze and dancing away into the summertime fields painted on the walls. He grinned to himself and found the ward to be peaceful, looking to the filly lying against him.
This time, she really was snoozing and he did not want to have the nurse or the doctor waking her to put her in his own bed. Held benevolently close, Spike closed his eyes and contentedly petted her, while somewhere Luna started to make amends for dropping the ball moments ago. With a lullaby of tick-tocks, bleep-beeps and hiss-huffs, the little dragon let his spirit return to slumberland where happier dreams awaited.
~*~
“And it’s Golden Gate, the good as gold gracious go-cart goddess who wins the golden goose trophy!” cheered Pinkie Pie ecstatically as Goldie crossed the hospital corridor finish line in a borrowed wheelchair first, pushed by Dr. Function. Only just behind them was Spike in his own rented wheelchair, aided by the engine of Rainbow Dash. The foals, gathered in the waiting room to see who would win, whooped and whinnied for their victorious peer. All grinned happily as only Dash grumped about coming second.
“I thought you were fast?” teased Spike, twisting in his chair to cheekily berate his driver. Dash huffed and fluttered her tail in annoyance.
“Yeah, at flying!” She flourished her wings and lifted off to prove herself. “I’ve never ever said I was the best wheelchair racer.” The dragon laughed contentedly and turned back to watch the award ceremony as Pinkie presented Goldie and Wave with a golden goose plushie. The foal held her prize up and in turn, the doctor lifted her while the spectators cheered and crowded around them.
It had been a few days since Spike had first arrived at the hospital. His friends had been true to their words, Fluttershy had popped in for a visit a day ago and Applejack a day before that. Twilight wrote to him every day once she knew his dragon’s fire wouldn’t hurt him in his damaged state. Pinkie had visited every day and even Starlight Glimmer popped by for the odd chat. Each and every one of them had been introduced to Goldie. She had hugged all of the ponies she had come into contact with.
“You let them win,” Spike murmured to Dash, tilting his head towards her, “it would have been so easy for you to use your wings for momentum.”
“Oh really?” The azure pegasus alighted on the laminated corridor floor and ruffled her wings, making an act of preening the left one. “Tell anypony I threw the match and I’ll tell Twilight where I found the photos of you trying on her tiara.”
“My lips are sealed,” the sangria and pear-colored drake said hurriedly, avoiding eye contact with Rainbow. The mare sniggered and gave him a nudge on the good shoulder.
“I’m just ribbing ya,” she replied jocosely, “I wouldn’t… oh.” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Dash tensing up and staring straight ahead. Following her line of sight, he saw the unicorn with the gorgeous curled mauve mane and clean chiffon fur step through the hospital entrance.
Rarity glanced about, hoping to spy a nurse she could ask which direction Spike’s ward was. It was clear by the delight spreading across her face at seeing him there that she hadn’t expected it and equally as transparent that she did not expect to see Rainbow Dash with him either. The pair gave surprised stares at one another, holding their positions like a pair of felines standing guard of their properties.
“Rainbow Dash, I-I didn’t realize it was your turn to visit our hospitalized friend… Hello, Pinkie, Hello, Spike…” Rarity wavered as she was the first to speak, doing everything to avoid looking in Dash’s judging crimson eyes, which meant that she did not see Rainbow was doing exactly the same. Across the room, Goldie caught Spike’s eye and sent him a question with her expression. He nodded solemnly.
“It’s cool,” the pegasus responded, “me and Pinkie were about to shoot off anyway, right, Pinkie?”
“What? But I thought we were staying for the next story--Eek! Dash, you elbowed me!” Pinkie rubbed the side she’d been poked in. “As I was saying, we’re stayi--OW! Dashie, you’re being really clumsy to--oh. You want me to shut up! Gotcha!” the berry bubblegum mare gave her pal a huge wink and a blissfully untroubled giggle.
“Not a problem, I can come back tomorrow,” Rarity started, but Spike rolled himself forward and got between the two blustering mares.
“No, Rarity, stay. Dash, you stay too.” He hoped that would be enough to convince them that he wanted both of them, but he couldn’t help noticing the awkward scuffing of front hooves and the refusal to meet the eyes of the other. Giving a lamenting sigh, he waved to catch Dr. Function’s attention. “Wavy, do you have a private room where I can have a talk with my friends?”
Shimmying through the flock of ponies around him, Function trotted along, checking for a spare room he could find for them. After passing several occupied examination rooms, he opened a door, flicked on the light into the room he’d entered and paused, staring inside it. Sighing, he glanced back to Spike.
“I have one here, but it’s more of a spare cupboard than a meeting place.”
“It’ll be fine, thanks, Doc,” the hospitalized drake rolled his way towards the open room and spun around to call back to the squabbling couple. “Rainbow, Rarity, could I have a word?” He backed his chair up to the door so that he could hold it open while his friends joined him and waited.
Noticing them go, Pinkie squeaked over, “Oooh, super secret meeting, am I invited?” and deflated slightly when Spike informed her that she wasn’t needed for this one. The salmon-colored earth pony perked up however as a foal who introduced themselves as Greenlock asked her if she could come and play dress up with them. “I can do that,” the Pie girl advised, “I’m good at impressions, Listen! This is Luna--” The dragon chuckled as he listened to them wander along the hall, returning his attention to his upset comrades when he could no longer hear Pinkie’s chatter.
“Aw, come on. Do we have to do this now?” Dash protested as she dragged herself over with her head almost between her forelegs. Spike gestured her into the room and watched Rarity to make sure she joined them as well. The fashionista approached the doorway, glancing at the dusty janitorial closet and stationary cupboard with an uppity sniffle.
“It’s hardly the Friendship Table in Twilight’s castle, is it, darling?” she professed, glancing back to the dragon in the wheelchair. He sighed and pointed forward with his wrapped up arm.
“It’s only for a few minutes, okay girls? Come on. This is important.” Sensing how eagerly he wanted to have this discussion, the mare used to the finer things in life reluctantly agreed and made her way into the room, avoiding any dust as much as possible.
“They cannot have used this room much,” Spike caught Rarity say, “I highly doubt any of the doctors or nurses would allow such a grimy room on site.” Once the door closed behind the dragon, Spike knew what he was going to say to the two mares he deeply cared for. He’d rehearsed it over and over again with Goldie.
He once again put himself in the heart of the battle, yet did not feel afraid or worried that they’d charge at him to get to each other like they had in his nightmare. He believed in the Elements of Generosity and Loyalty, he knew they had the capability to be best friends again.
“What is going on?” Expecting them to argue, he held his tongue and surveyed both of them. To his modest astonishment, neither launched into a tirade against the other. He let the gap settle before he continued, “You’ve had your differences before, but none of them have been like this. I know you both have different opinions about how the other should treat me, so I want to set the record straight here and now.”
“Spike, I--” Rainbow’s voice caught.
“We’re sorry,” Rarity finished for her. For the first time in days, they shared subtle smiles with one another and Spike gave a small huff of relief. It wasn’t going to be the end of it, though, if he didn’t continue to discuss the initial problem.
“I accept your apologies, but I’m not the only one you should be apologizing to.” He faced Dashie first, who trotted nervously in place and became interested in a box of pens on the floor, keeping one ear turned towards him all the same. “Rainbow Dash, I know you’re the Element of Loyalty, but there’s such a thing as too much loyalty. When you berate one friend for not doing what you believe is the honorable thing, especially when you don’t have all the facts, you aren’t doing either relationship any favors. You could have lost an amazing friend in Rarity over this and that woulda been really sad.”
“Y-You’re…” the mare of every color closed her eyes, swelling her lungs with the breath she needed, “you’re right, Spike. I just wanted you to be happy, but I didn’t think about what it was doing to my other friends. Rarity, I--”
“Apology already accepted, Rainbow Dash,” the other lady responded affectionately, still wearing a smile. She kept it bravely even when it came time for her judgment. Here it was, the moment Spike felt most self-conscious discussing, but he’d had such bolstering reassurance from Golden Gate that he knew he could do it.
“Rarity, I really like you. That’s clearly not a secret if Rainbow Dash was the one to spot it--”
“Hey,” Dash shrugged, “part of being a Wonderbolt is being observant. I see things, I just don’t always say them.” However, glimpsing the two sets of eyes staring daggers at her, she returned to her bout of silence. Spike clicked his tongue and snickered, but got back to his point quickly. Rarity was all ears, and her eyes glistened like sapphires in a cave of wonders.
“I like you, but I’m just a young dragon and I know it’s too big a deal to ask for more from our relationship at this point.”
“It--” Dash started to say something, almost unable to hold her tongue, yet managed at a halting claw from Spike. Rarity continued to listen devotedly, taking a seat in the unclean room.
“That’s why I’m not asking you to go out on a date with me or change anything for me. I just want you to love me like the friend you are. Maybe someday when I’m older we will give it a shot, but for now as long as you don’t treat me any differently, I’m going to be the happiest little dragon in the whole of Equestria,” he let the words germinate the same seed in her mind as they had for him, and watched the light of new awareness gleam in her eyes. Grinning, he let her speak next. For the second time in that cupboard, he was surprised as she did not talk, preferring to move in and wrap her forelegs around him.
The soft white lips hugged against his moderately gelid cheek long than he could ever remember them being before. A nice, comforting kiss from the mare he’d been holding a torch for from the day they first met. It made all his trials over the last week feel worthwhile, and he guffawed foolishly as color spilled into his cheeks. He couldn’t even feel disappointed when it had to end, as he knew it was a promise of many more to come.
“Spikey-Wikey, when did you become so…” Rarity bit her lip, thinking of the word she needed to say.
“Smart?” he offered, but she refused it for the real word she wanted.
“Adult,” she nearly purred, holding his view with hers for a final few seconds before releasing him, her tail sweeping the filthy floor without concern. Around she jogged on the spot until she faced Dash and cleared her throat with a modicum amount of the class she had left. She arched her back properly, posed in preparation to speak, yet thought better of it.
Equally able to startle Rainbow as easily as she shocked Spike, Rarity captured the blue mare with a speedy pounce and a hug, sniveling emotionally as her white face fuzz rubbed into Dash’s unpreened feathers. The dragon, still masked with a rosy mug, chortled as Dash struggled against the cling of the openly cherishing unicorn.
“I’m so terribly sorry, darling. I should have understood that you were not out to attack me, you just did not want to see our friend hurt.”
“Y-Yeah-hrk!” Rainbow flailed and flapped as the wind was squeezed from her chest. “R-Rares! L-Lungs, hack! K-Kinda need them to--huff! Y’know, live?!”
“Oh, quite right, my dear, I am so sorry.” The sentimental mare released her reunited friend, helping to dust her off and stepping back sheepishly. An ultramarine blur quickly wrapped around her and, with true speed only a Sonic Rainboomer could perform, Dash gave Rarity a snuggle under the chin and a ruffle of the mane before Rarity was ever aware of what had happened.
“S’all good,” Rainbow replied scratchily, before cantering back to Spike, “so, peg leg, is that it, or am I being detained?!”
“Nah, you’re free to go, Ms. Dash,” Spike responded, playing along and reached for the doorknob. He struggled to turn it for a moment as he also tried to handle his mobile chair, only to find a glistening of unicorn dust form around it and open it for them. “Why, thank you, Miss. Rarity!” He grinned back to the purple mare who curtsied as Dash helped take the handles to lead him out of the closet.
Sat in her own chair, Goldie watched them exit and waved when she caught Spike’s eye. He explained to Dash that he could take it from there and whirled his chair around, bee-lining for her. Rarity spied Spike turn and caught up with him, leaning her head to his as they grew closer.
“Is that the famous Golden Gate the other girls love so much?” she enquired, prompting his little fangs to show while he beamed again.
“Yep, that’s her.”
“Wonderful, I simply cannot wait to meet her then.” Together, they trundled up to the scraggly but happy ray of sunshine, Goldie immediately slipping out of her spent race-cart, bringing her golden goose toy with her, and carefully climbing onto Spike to curl up against him pleasantly. Once comfy, she regarded Rarity with saffron circles under sandy lids, a small smile turning up on her muzzle.
“You must be Spike’s friend,” Rarity said tactfully, “he’s told me a lot of really, really nice things about you.”
“And I have heard a lot of nice things about you too from Spike’s other friends,” Rarity offered welcomely, “it is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Golden Gate.” Goldie stretched her forelegs to the chalk unicorn mare, wiggling her forelegs hopefully. It took a moment for Rarity to understand the meaning of this. “Oh, a hug? I couldn’t, darling, I’m filthy.” The hooves fluttered more insistently. “Oh… Very well then.”
Snatching a tissue from a box on the coffee table sat in the center of the waiting room, Rarity dusted herself off as best as she could. Once satisfied, she crouched down and made sure that her special little dragon and his fine new friend got the best of her loving, warm cuddles.
Across the vestibule, Dr. Function looked about and wondered where he’d lost his triumphant co-pilot from the earlier race. His teal irises locked on the sight of the orange tail dancing out of the corner of the wheelchair. Her dragon friend and his visitor were very clearly spoiling her with snuggles. Ah, he thought, that’s good.
He found a place to sit and waited, smiling until his cheeks hurt. He didn’t notice the extra body join him until he felt the forelegs wrap around his shoulders. It was very rare for Nurse Joy to show the beating of her kind heart inside the hospital, but out of uniform as she was now she did not mind being this informal.
“You may have to collect her,” she whispered, not annoyed that he did not stop looking at the sight of his patient and friend Goldie nuzzling her pals. “You know it is around this time of the day that she gets weak and tired.”
“I know, but I think today is different,” he murmured sympathetically and pointed to Golden Gate’s tail spinning and flying like a ribbon in the wind. Joy squinted until she saw what he was pointing to and whickered thoughtfully.
“She’s not tired yet?” she questioned. “But how can that be?”
“Sometimes, things surpass medical know-how and professional understanding,” he said, his delight never wavering. “She’s had more energy ever since Spike came to us.” He sighed with satisfaction and wiggled back into Joy’s legs, turning to embrace her properly in return. She chuckled and lifted her eyebrow.
“What does that mean?” she asked him, her own coral tail curling back and forth.
“It means,” he concluded, “that they have both found their other half.”
~*~